The cost of a battery represents a significant portion (approximately 10%) of the cost of a modern laptop. Chemical reactions inside a battery are responsible for the generation of electric energy, but these reactions become less and less upon charge and discharge, thus degrading the capacity of a battery to hold charge for a prolonged period of time. When the capacity of a battery drops significantly, the battery must be replaced at a significant cost. Thus, it is desirable from a consumer perspective to manufacture batteries with a long life.
Current power management software for laptops and other portable devices are inflexible. There is no unified approach regarding optimization of power consumption. Rather, existing power management approaches are fragmented, focusing on optimization strictly for total power or total time required for operating a portable device with a battery, regardless of the underlying use of the device. There remains a need for an integrated optimization based upon the actual operation of, and work performed by, a portable device.